The Iron Hand of Mars Read Online Free PDF Page B

provinces played a rich part in the civil war.”
    It was the recent Vindex revolt in Gaul which had sparked everything by causing Nero’s downfall. The governor of Upper Germany crushed the revolt, but on his recall to Rome after Galba claimed the throne, his troops refused to take the New Year’s oath to Galba. When Galba died, Otho took over in Rome, but the Rhine legions rejected him and decided to elect their own emperor.
    They chose Vitellius, then governor of Lower Germany. His reputation was as a brutal, loose-living drunk—obvious imperial material by the standards of the time. From Judaea, Vespasian challenged him. Seeking to pin down the legions in Germany who were his rival’s main supporters, Vespasian contacted a local chieftain who might raise a diversion. It worked—too well. Vespasian grabbed the imperial wreath, but the rebellion in Germany ran completely out of control.
    â€œA part which culminated dramatically in the Civilis revolt, Caesar.”
    The old man smiled at my careful neutrality. “You are familiar with events?”
    â€œI read the Daily Gazette .” I matched his sombre tone. It was a bleak moment in Roman history.
    The fiasco in Germany had had everything. At the time, Rome itself was a city torn apart, but the shocking scenes on the Rhine outdid even our own problems of panic, fire, and plague. The leading rebel—a Batavian hothead called Civilis—had attempted to unite all the European tribes in some impossible vision of an independent Gaul. During the mayhem he managed to cause, a string of Roman forts were overrun and burnt. Our Rhenus fleet, which had native rowers, rowed itself over to the enemy. Vetera, the only garrison which held out with any credit, was starved into submission after a grim siege; then the troops who surrendered were set upon and slaughtered as they marched out unarmed.
    While the native revolt raged up and down Europe, the mood of our own troops also deteriorated. Mutinies occurred everywhere. Officers who showed any spirit were assaulted by their men. There were wild tales of legionary commanders being stoned, making a run for it, and hiding in tents disguised as slaves. One was murdered by a deserter. Two were executed by Civilis. The governor of Upper Germany was dragged from his sickbed and assassinated. In a particularly horrific incident, the legate from the surrendering fort at Vetera was sent off in chains by Civilis as a present to an influential priestess in the barbarian part of Germany; even today his fate remained unknown. Finally, at the height of the upheavals, four of our Rhineland legions actually sold their services and we had to endure the ultimate horror of Roman soldiers swearing allegiance to the barbarians.
    It sounds fantastic. At any other period it would have been impossible. Yet in the Year of the Four Emperors, when the whole Empire blazed in ruins while the imperial contenders slogged it out, this was just one especially colourful sideshow amongst the wide-scale lunacy.
    I wondered glumly how the colourful Rhenus frontier was about to impinge on my drab life.
    â€œWe have Germany in hand,” Vespasian declared. From most politicians this would have been self-deception. Not him. He was a good general himself, and he attracted strong subordinates. “Annius Gallus and Petilius Cerialis have achieved a dramatic turnaround.” Gallus and Cerialis had been sent to subdue Germany with nine legions. It was probably the largest task force ever sent out by Rome so success was a foregone conclusion, but as a loyal citizen I knew when to look impressed. “I’m giving Cerialis the governorship of Britain as a reward.” Some reward! Cerialis had served in Britain during the Boudiccan Revolt, so he would know what dismal privilege he had just won.
    A lucky fluke reminded me that the esteemed Petilius Cerialis was related to Vespasian. I swallowed a witty rejoinder and asked meekly,